October Foodie Pen Pals

Good News the YODA ROBE has been found!! I’ve never been so excited to see a light tan piece of felt in my life. Hurray! Where you may ask did I find it? Of course it was wadded up on table in my older sons bedroom covered by folded clean clothes.

I also made a mean lunch…aside from the Halloween candy I’ve been enjoying over the past two days. My eating habit have been pretty crap-tastic. Today it was time to get some greens and some iron. These hit the spot, garlic brussel sprouts.

I took last month off from Foodie Pen Pals but was so excited this month to get back on the wagon. I was paired with the fabulous Carolynne from Chicago. The mix she sent was amazing. She called it a “dinner package” I called it lip smackin’ goodness!

Interested in learning more about Foodie Pen Pals or signing up? Lindsay from the Lean Green Bean has done what I can call a CRAZY great job as the mastermind and executor of this program. The rules are this:

Here’s a detailed explanation of the program:

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
– Foodie Penpals is open to US, Canadian residents & UK residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

Frontera Skillet Chipolte Garlic Sauce…yummmmmm. Rick Bayless I loved you on TOP CHEF and after eating this I would like to permanently live near you so you could cook for me. We whipped these up for dinner last night super easy and delicious. I’m now on the HUNT for these in Central New York! We made them with steak as the directions said and they did not disappoint.

The sesame crackings were delicious and much lighter than I thought. With cheese they were a whole household hit! Cashew Carrot Bisque this made the perfect lunch last week when I was looking to mix it up. As Carolynne promised it was amazing for soup out of a box. It could have been served at a restaurant, so rich and full of flavor.

Let’s be honest I have yet to make homemade risotto that comes out correctly mine is always mushy or overcooked. This box mix was great and for the first time I actually make edible risotto! Thanks Carolynne! 😉 I won’t tell if you don’t!

I would gush about these vegan chocolate chip cookies but there are two small people in my household who ate them all…apparently they were good enough to be eaten on the front porch in the cover of evening while their mother was cooking dinner. My oldest told me they were delicious and since he’s the most picky eater I’ve ever met, his word is golden! At least I got a picture of them.

Carolynne also sent me along a recipe for Spicy Peanut Noodles that I can not wait to try. It’s perfect timing for trying this recipe out as my house has been getting all Asian Fusion since my kids recently discovered they liked it.

Thank you so much to Carolynne for the great eats!

If you have an extra 3 seconds today give me a vote in the Circle of Moms top 25 heath and fitness mom bloggers. Today is the last day to vote! I appreciate all your support, you guys are the best!